Speaking ahead of the no-confidence vote in the government – tabled by the government after calls for Mr Johnson to step aside – the Labor leader said the prime minister was leaving in “disgrace”. “This is not the summer when Downing Street is taken over by a vindictive squatter mired in scandal,” Sir Keir said in an ill-tempered debate during which speaker Sir Lindsay Hoyle made several calls for “moderate” language. “Unlike his predecessors, this prime minister has not been forced out by political disagreements. “And despite the delusions he has cultivated in his shelter, he has not been overcome by the tumult of an eccentric herd. Instead, he was forced to leave in disgrace.” Want a quick and special update on the biggest news? Listen to our latest podcasts to find out what you need to know Mr Johnson had minutes earlier made a bullish defense of his record in government, despite a series of scandals that culminated in his resignation this month. He hailed his success in the 2019 general election and celebrated his record on Brexit, telling MPs: “We got Brexit done and even though the backers and the avengers were left plotting and plotting and biding their time… we delivered every one of our promises. “ He then turned to the Covid pandemic, arguing: “A pandemic that was global, the origins of which we don’t fully understand, but it had nothing to do with the British people. “And if anything, the result of a far-fetched misbehavior involving bats or pangolins, and the spread of which has been terribly difficult to manage, and this government has never let go of wave after wave.” He went on to praise the “resilience of the British people” in protecting the NHS when a Labor MP was heard shouting: “You’re having a party in Downing Street”. Boris Johnson will resign as Prime Minister, but many want him to resign immediately. Credit: PA MPs will take part in a vote of confidence in the government later on Monday as calls for Boris Johnson to step down immediately and hand over to a caretaker prime minister continue. If the government is defeated, a general election will almost certainly be called, although this would require a significant number of Tory MPs to vote against it or at least abstain. However, that would seem unlikely given that the party is leaderless and unable to contest an election, while the initial wave of anger against Mr Johnson has largely subsided. Unusually, the vote will be held on a government proposal – a fact that Mr Johnson appeared or forgot. Opening the debate, he said: “I have no idea why the Leader of the Opposition has insisted that we have to have a confidence motion today, when we could be freeing people from online harm, we could be fixing the flaws in the Northern Ireland Protocol. ending pointless barriers to trade in our country, but since he wants to…” But speaker Sir Lindsay Hoyle chimed in, saying: “It might just be helpful, it’s actually the government that brought it down today.” Labor had initially said it would seek a no-confidence vote after Johnson announced he would stay on as prime minister until the autumn and that a new Conservative leader was in place. But the government refused to accept the wording of Labour’s motion, which expressed a lack of confidence in the government and the prime minister, effectively forcing Tory MPs to keep saying they still have confidence in Mr Johnson if they wanted to avoid an election. Instead, ministers tabled a proposal of their own after Commons deputy leader Nigel Evans told the two parties to resolve the issue themselves.
